111 people who attended the wedding or funeral were tested positive, said an official (File)
New Delhi:
More than 100 people in Bihar tested positive for the coronavirus after attending the wedding – and then the funeral – of the groom, who is said to have tied the knot while he was sick with the disease.
Officials said on Wednesday that the 26-year-old groom had symptoms of the deadly virus when he married on June 15.
He died a day later.
“So far, 111 people who attended the wedding or funeral have tested positive,” said Raj Kishor Chaudhary, chief medical officer at Patna.
“All the others have been identified and isolated.”
Doctors are not sure if the unnamed groom was the source of the infection because he was cremated before the tests could be done.
But Mr. Chaudhary said that about 400 people who attended the wedding or funeral will be isolated following a spike in infections.
The groom, a software engineer who returned from Delhi almost a week before the wedding, had shown symptoms before the wedding.
He was briefly admitted to the hospital, but his family released him and arranged the wedding with more than 300 guests.
He died at his home two days later, with nearly 200 people attending the funeral. Some had attended both.
None of the groom’s relatives – including his wife – tested positive, officials said.
The authorities have launched an investigation into possible violations of social distancing regulations on the number of wedding and funeral guests.
No more than 50 guests are now allowed at weddings – and only 20 people at funerals – to limit the risk of spreading the coronavirus.
The epidemic is raging across the country with nearly 6,000,000 infections and 17,000 deaths reported to date.
Bihar has recorded nearly 10,000 cases, with 62 deaths.
Experts believe that a lack of tests hides the real figures and that the national count is much higher than that reported.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government relaxed lock restrictions despite an increase in the number of cases.
But on Tuesday, he warned the nation to be more careful.
“We have become insolent,” he said, adding, “I want you to observe all precautions again in the same way as if you were locked.”
